Day 5 – Exploring NOLA
We started the day off with a great breakfast at Waffle House. Then headed back into town to join a free walking tour of the city. The tour was great and our guide was so knowledgeable. She was a transplant from Australia who had come to New Orleans while backpacking and fell in love with the city so much that she moved there. Having a tour guide that is passionate about their city makes all the difference. New Orleans was so much more than I expected. There is so much history and culture there but you really have to experience it in person. I never really had a huge desire to visit, mainly because I thought it was very touristy from Mardi Gras. I was so wrong. While there are huge crowds of tourists and plenty of restaurants and vendors catering to them the city somehow maintains its charm…which is very hard to do. The streets feel a lot like Europe with its French and Spanish influence. The tour made me feel like a walking tour is a necessity of every city I visit and especially in the bigger ones. You really appreciate a place a lot more and feel connected to it when you know about its roots.
After the tour we wandered a bit looking for a good place for lunch. I can’t remember or list all the places we ended up eating but they were all pretty delicious. We sampled a bunch of the local standards and weren’t disappointed. We also stopped by Pat O’Brien’s which is a pretty famous Mardi Gras bar because of their signature Hurricane drinks in huge plastic bottles that you can carry around on the street. We listened to the dueling pianos for a bit and then got some red wine (we opted out of the sugary Hurricanes which guarantees a hangover) and hid out in a quiet corner of a bar. The crazy drunkenness ensuing in the patio of Pat O’Brien’s wasn’t calling out to either of it. Felt like one big Frat party to me. This is the side of New Orleans that I have no interest in although I can see how it would’ve been an amazing time at another point in my life.
We were loving NOLA so much that we decided to stay a second night so we could get in as much as possible that day and leave early the next day. We also visited St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 which is believed to house the remains of Marie Laveau the Voodoo Priestess. The interesting thing about the cemeteries here is that all the graves are buried above ground in vaults which makes the whole place look like a strange tiny village. There is a vault marked as being the one belonging to Marie Laveau but many people believe that she is actually located in a different spot. So there are quite a few places where you’ll find a vault covered in X’s and small trinkets. Both are left in hopes that your wish will be granted. Since many of the gifts are left by tourists most of it looked like garbage. Essentially anything from someone’s purse that could be spared; lipstick, gum, lighters, business cards, mints, etc. We read though that sometimes people still come and leave gifts like live chickens.
My favorite part of New Orleans was definitely the live music and performers all over the streets. On almost any corner you could find a singer, guitar player, trumpet solo, or even a classical violinist paired with folk guitar. Everyone was trying to make a name for themselves and find a way to stand out in the crowd. We were lucky enough to come upon a big breakdance performance in front of Jackson Square which was probably the most entertaining I’ve ever seen. The musicians, artists and dancers added an amazing energy and vibrancy to the city that made it unlike any place I’d been before. While many cities have street performers, New Orleans seemed to have the best of the best.
I wanted a souvenir which I don’t usually do. At first I thought an original work of art would be nice but I never ended up seeing one that screamed out to me. On the first night out when we’d stopped by the arts & crafts fair there was a guy making things out of old silverware. It’s not to unique of a concept but I’d never seen rings made from it before and I really liked it (come to find out its quite common). We went back and I picked out a fork I liked with the initial B for my last name and watched the man craft it into a really beautiful ring. I loved the fact that it was recycled and perhaps this piece of silver had a story behind it. It was the perfect way to have a reminder of this road trip.
you have a gift in writing. loved the love between you and Acacia.
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